Acconpina to our profound couvioti and that, we believe, of the majority of those who have watched recent events with discrimination, it i sary to regard the strength an of the Empire at the present juncture as centred in, and dependent upon, an alliance betwoon the Empress and Li Hung-chang. It is with some feolinge of uuensiness that we have heard that Hor Majesty is said to have is been compelled to temporise in receiving the advice of that most mischievous atid datigerous old person the late Viceroy of Nanking, whose capacity as marplot seems to increase in direct ratio to the growth of his corpulence and decrepitude. There can be no doubt that the Empress is being subjected to constant and almost overpowering pressure by the men who constitute what is generally called the War Party, sometimes the anti-foreign Party, bat whose truest designation would be the anti-Li Party; and there must be inoments when she may well doubt whether her strength will prove anfiicieut'to withstand the influence of sual: persistent and viralontattacks. For it can scarcely be doubted that deep and bitter jealousy of Li Hung-chang lies at the root of at least half the bluster of which we ear, and that opposition to this scheme and discouragement of that is really no more than a thin veneer under which opposition to the Viceroy may ensily be distinguished. Now the position assumed by the five-and-forty Censors whose Memorial we published a fow days ago, 'I'so Tsung-tang, Yii-ying, and those who sympathise with them, is a very serious one when taken into consideration side by side with this prime fact—that, as matters uow ataud, the Empress has declared in favour of Li Hang-chang. The alme and the policy of Li and the Empress are identical, and all attacks on Li, and attempts to discountenance and discredit what.a-doer, are_thns really no less than attacks upon the Beoproco herself, and, being so, amount to something that might be regarded as akin to treason, or at least to grave disloyalty, he position of Li, there fore, while greatly simplified from this point of, is ab the same time endowed wih a very Leavy respon sibi Hitherto his altitude has been pas He has patiently withstood the gists of his opponents, and the only reply he made to the famous Memorial of the Forty-five was an expression of willingness to resign, and retire into private life, should her Majesty's confidence in him have been shaken, But the Empress vetoed this at once, and in doing so she has iden. tified Lersolf with the interests and the policy of her great supporter, It now becomes, therefore, the duty of Li to assume a more distinctly hostile attitude towards the mon who have thus proved themselves the enemies not only of himself bot of his Imperial Mistress, and to attack them in his turn, Chinese history is not wanting in instances in which the faithful Minister or General has resorted even to arms in defence of his Sovereign when the Throne has been surrounded by dangerous and untrustworthy advisers, and, apparently fighting against the Emperor, has really fought against the specious traitors who were planning the rain of China, and thereby delivered it hands. It that at the present janoture the Viceroy of Chibli would be fally fied, by precedent, by policy, and by patriotism, in raising the standard of the Empress against those who, in spite of their specious protestations, are the worst otomies of both Throne and State, and in declaring war upon them as rebels to the Empress's authority. There can be no trace between Li and those who have attempted to nullify the Empr ud dood. be. tween Li and Ts proved himeelf the uncompromising foo of all the latest developments of Imperil policy. When Li only was attacked, he could very well afford to passive; bat uow that.the Empress is being compromised, and struck at through him, it is incumbent upon him asa loyal subject and the reovgnised Pillar of the State to bestir him. self, Were he to raise the standard of the Empress, and proclaim himeelf the champion of the Imperial authority, no one could impeach him with success, on were ie to march upon Peking. The Empress may not be able to stand out mach longer against the pressui of her bad advisers, and is even now in want of a deliverer. The people of China are weary of the blaster that is them to war and to destruction, right underatandiug of the tion would unhesitatingly support Li. It Lican once be forced to act, he will triumph, and China will be saved. If, on the other hand, he pre-
Ube Empress at the mercy. of lis and Ler enemies, the result will be disastrous to hit, to the Empress, and to Ohi
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.